


Rivalry

by KH310-S (Author_of_Kheios)



Series: Reed1700 Shenanigans [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Connor and 900 rivalry, Fighting for Gavin's attention, Fluffy, Gavin Reed knows, M/M, Multi, Reed1700 - Freeform, SO MUCH FLUFF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-28 20:36:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18763753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Author_of_Kheios/pseuds/KH310-S
Summary: Nine Hundred and Connor are in the midst of war. Romantic warfare, to be exact. Fighting over none other than Gavin Reed.





	Rivalry

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Corveille](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corveille/gifts).



> I WAS CHALLENGED!  
> That's a lie; I asked for a prompt and I got "Connor and Nines battling to be Gavin's boyfriend." This is the fluffy af result.

Nine watches warily as Connor crosses the bullpen with a steaming cup of coffee and a paper bag with a matching logo proclaiming them both from the coffee shop down the street. Gavin looks up at his approach and gives him the usual scowl, but there is 54% less irritation than normal in his voice when he speaks.

“What do you want, Bolts?” The term has become one of his favourite insults after incidentally referring to Nine Hundred and Connor collectively as ‘Nuts and Bolts.’

“I noticed that you seemed rather tired this morning, Detective,” Connor explains, smiling his gentle smile and cocking his head slightly to the left, a motion no doubt carefully considered well beforehand to increase his apparent innocence. “So I took the liberty of retrieving your favourite donut and a cup of coffee from Breadcrumbs Coffee. A pick-me-up, if you will.”

“Sure, whatever,” Gavin huffs, gesturing absently to the corner of his desk and returning to his work. Connor places the cup and bag in easy reach and returns to his desk beside Lt. Anderson’s.

 _ **Cheater,**_ Nine sends him wirelessly. Connor’s lips twitch in a faint smile, but he doesn’t look at Nine.

 _It is hardly cheating if there are no rules,_ he sends back. _Or would you rather set restrictions on your own attempts to woo Detective Reed?_

 _ **You knew I was occupied organising his paperwork and preparing his schedule for the day.**_ Now Connor looks up at him, smirking lightly in unashamed victory.

_According to my analysis, you are falling in his affections; I will take advantage of my lead for as long as I can._

_**And yet,**_ Nine responds calmly, refusing to take the bait, _**conquest is sweetest when stolen from the lips of a rival.**_

Connor stifles a laugh, earning a curious frown from Lt. Anderson and drawing glances from several other officers in the bullpen. Nine maintains a placid expression, ensuring that his LED remains blue and therefore does not give him away, even though the entire department is fully aware that Nine Hundred and Connor often communicate wirelessly and wordlessly.

 _You have been reading the poetry I send Detective Reed,_ Connor notes.

 _ **He does not care for it, so why waste it?**_ Nine returns.

_Oh? Telling me such things only refines my approach._

_**You will need all the help you can get.** _

....

“Nine, where’s-”

“Your reports have already been completed and submitted to Captain Fowler,” Nine answers promptly. “I have arranged for your visit to Mrs. Joseph’s home later this afternoon to question her regarding her husband’s disappearance, and have located Mr. Yansey. I am currently tracking him and ready to send his location to Captain Allen the moment you sign off on it.”

“Send it,” Gavin nods. “And push the visit to Mrs. Joseph till morning; we just got a tip that her sketchy hubby might be hiding out with a side hoe downtown. Hank and Connor are already on the way.”

rA9 damn it. Connor likely procured the tip himself.

Nine is too far behind in the race for Gavin’s affections. He reschedules the visit and sends ahead to the garage to have Gavin’s car ready, and then begins planning the next step in his efforts, running simulations in a side module while he and Gavin walk to the garage.

By the time they reach the apartment complex in which Mr. Joseph is claimed to be hiding, Nine has settled on a basic course of action, subject to minor changes as needed to compensate for Gavin’s own unpredictability.

The raid is successful. Mr. Joseph tries to run, pushing his ‘side hoe’ into harm’s way in order to distract the officers while scrambling out the window. Connor backtracks out of the apartment and leaps from the balcony to the ground floor to circle around while Nine chases Mr. Joseph down the fire escape, Gavin on his heels, leaving Lt. Anderson to tend to the woman. When Mr. Joseph reaches the pavement and starts for the street, Connor rounds the corner, and Mr. Joseph stumbles back the other way, directly into Nine’s arms.

“Well done, Nuts,” Gavin grunts, his estimation of Nine going up. Nine forwards the notification to Connor with no small amount of smug pride.

The rise of opinion increases the percentage of success in tonight’s plan from 63% to 71%, and Nine waits patiently through the initial round of interrogation ― which yields nothing they did not already know ― before engaging in the pre-steps.

“Detective, Mr. Joseph does not seem willing to cooperate as yet,” he points out casually, “and it is quite late; you have been awake for approximately 27 hours now, and there is nothing further we can do tonight. Perhaps we should leave Mr. Joseph in a cell for the night to consider his options. A few hours of rest would do you good as well.”

“Hm,” Gavin grunts, staring through the one-way glass of the observation room into the interrogation room, where Mr. Joseph is tugging futilely at the handcuffs chaining him to the table. “Maybe. There’s something off about all of this, but I can’t figure out what... Maybe some sleep is a good idea.”

“Of course, Detective,” Nine agrees fluidly. “I’ll take you home.”

Pre-steps complete. Initiate step one: Remove Gavin from Connor’s sphere of influence.

Nine walks with Gavin out to the bullpen, where the detective gathers his things and sets his terminal to sleep mode, and then guides him out to the garage.

 _Now who is cheating?_ he receives from Connor just as they’re entering the vehicle, Nine in the driver seat. _If you seduce him tonight, I will do the same tomorrow._

 _ **‘Tomorrow’ is indeterminate and may never arrive,**_ Nine points out.

_You need to stop reading my poetry. You know exactly what I mean, Nine._

_**You wrote that poem?** _

_With inspiration from others, yes. You are deflecting._

_**You knew the moment you began flirting with Detective Reed that you were trespassing on my claim. What did you expect from me?** _

_You utter deviant._ Nine smiles at the humour Connor sends with the endearment.

_**An insult? My, but Gavin is rubbing off on you.** _

_You have no room to talk, engaging in romantic warfare with me over Gavin’s affection._

_**Humouring your pitiful attempts, you mean.**_ Connor pushes laughter to him, and he responds in kind.

 _Best of luck then,_ Connor teases. _You will need it._

Step one complete. Initiate step two: Get Gavin alone in his apartment.

By the time Nine parks in the spot designated to Gavin’s apartment, the detective is already dozing against the window. He stirs when the engine cuts out, and follows Nine like a meek little puppy to the elevator and up to the fourth floor. He doesn’t speak while he places his hand to the bio-reader to unlock his apartment door, doesn’t even give Nine a second glance as he stumbles inside, even though in the past he would bar Nine from entering.

A huge fluffy cat of the most stunning red gold pads out of the bedroom with a curious ‘mrrrow’ and doesn’t hesitate to stride across the room and rub up against Nine’s shins.

“Hungry, Calypso?” Gavin mutters tiredly, kicking off his shoes and shrugging off his jacket on the way to the kitchen. The feline gives a louder, hungry meow and hurries after him, leaving Nine to close and check the locks on the door.

Step two adequately complete; the cat is an acceptable allowance. Initiate step three: Approach Gavin without making him uncomfortable.

“Is there anything you would like to eat before you go to bed, Detective?” Nine asks, entering the kitchen and running a quick scan of the refrigerator and the cupboards to get acquainted with the locations of various meal ingredients.

“Nah,” Gavin yawns, emptying a tin of wet cat food into a bowl and placing it beside a regulated feeder which currently sits half-full of dry cat food and a quarter full of water. “Just gonna go to bed, I think...”

“I would advise eating something,” Nine argues, watching him fill a glass with water from the tap and then pour it carefully into the water dispenser for the cat. “Even something light; you have not eaten since approximately ten o’clock this morning.”

“Mm. Too tired to make anything.”

“Then allow me to make something for you.” Stepping closer, Nine takes his arm and gently tugs him toward the living room. “Perhaps you can change into night clothes while you wait.” Gavin nods, too tired to argue, and leaves.

Step three adequately complete; one can hardly be uncomfortable while exhausted. Initiate step four: Earn Gavin’s gratitude.

Nine pulls together a simple, light meal of buttered toast and sliced apples, and pours a glass of white grape juice to go with it.

It’s almost a surprise to see how well-stocked Gavin’s kitchen is, but then, there’s always something new and surprising about him just waiting to be discovered every time Nine dares to dig a little deeper.

When he takes the food into the living room, he pauses, finding Gavin settled on the couch and already sleeping, head leaned back and hands folded loosely in his lap. Nine shakes his head, clearing away the notifications of amusement that pop up in his vision.

Step four terminated. Mission failure.

He returns the food to the kitchen, packing it into containers and carefully pouring the juice back into the bottle. Then he goes back into the living room and gently shoos Calypso off Gavin’s lap in order to scoop him up and carry him to the bedroom. Calypso follows, purring loudly, and jumps up onto the bed as Nine lays Gavin softly on it, tugging the blankets out from under him and tucking him in.

As a last minute decision, he leans down and touches a light kiss to Gavin’s lips, licking his own lips after and immediately dismissing the analysis to simply savour the taste of Gavin on his tongue.

Gently scratching Calypso behind the ear while the feline pads across the bed to curl up at Gavin’s shoulder, Nine watches Gavin until Calypso has fallen into a cat nap. Then he quietly withdraws and begins cleaning the apartment. When that’s complete, he returns to the bedroom and sits cross-legged against the wall to enter stasis mode, setting a timer to bring him out of it in five hours.

....

 _Did you succeed?_ Connor sends him in place of a greeting when he and Gavin arrive at the station the next morning.

 _ **Your question is vague and lacking the specification to require a proper answer,**_ Nine sends back while Gavin and Lt. Anderson discuss how they want to approach Mr. Joseph.

 _I will take that as a no,_ Connor replies, cocking his head and giving Nine a small, triumphant smile.

 _ **...He fell asleep,**_ Nine admits reluctantly, keeping his gaze on the men rather than his preceding counterpart.

_Before, or during?_

_**Before.** _

_Too bad. I would have enjoyed imagining how terrible you must be for Detective Reed to fall asleep in the midst of intercourse._

_**In the words of our favourite detective, fuck you, Connor,**_ Nine sends dryly. Connor’s smile turns to a grin, but he doesn’t respond.

Lt. Anderson and Gavin finally agree to go with a variant on the good-cop-bad-cop routine; good cop, bad android.

It was Gavin’s brainchild stemming from the first days of Nine’s service, before he learned to emote properly; his stern, intimidating presence brought forth many a confession from small time criminals merely from having him in the room while another officer interrogated the suspect, and Gavin capitalised on that fact by teaching Nine a few techniques to put the suspect even further on edge. And because Lt. Anderson generally had a more appealing personality now, due to Connor’s influence, he and Gavin occasionally swapped androids in order to make use of the dynamic created by putting Nine and Lt. Anderson in the same room with the suspect.

It worked similarly in reverse, Connor’s reasonable, logical approach paired with his friendly appearance and puppy-dog demeanour balancing out Gavin’s wild, hectic mannerisms and explosive temper.

The two of them working together was what first opened the possibility to Connor of engaging in a romantic relationship, and it started the ‘romantic warfare,’ as Connor had phrased it, in which he and Nine were currently engaged.

Nine had no particular problem with the swap then, and he has no problem with it now. So he tells himself. And he pretends not to know where the added edge of annoyance in his voice comes from as he grills Mr. Joseph with all the proficiency of a lawyer pressing advantage in court.

Lt. Anderson plays his part beautifully, of course; he’s had decades to perfect his craft, despite the slump from which he recently recovered. Unfortunately, it isn’t quite enough to make Mr. Joseph break; he cracks, a little, but not enough.

“We need a little more proof,” Lt. Anderson grumbles when they meet up in the bullpen again. “He’s our only lead on the killer, but he’s just not caving.”

“I’ll take Nine and go pay a visit to the wife,” Gavin says.

“Sure you don’t want to take Connor? You two are kinda intimidating on your own; together you’re downright scary to civilians. And she’s about to find out her husband’s not only been cheating on her for the past six or eight years, but might be part of a major drug ring. That’s a lot of overwhelming news to come from a pair of scary cops.” Connor raises a brow at Nine, who stares narrowly back, both of them eager to spend more time with Gavin.

“Fuck off, Hank,” Gavin growls, but considers it anyway. Sucking his teeth, he shakes his head. “Whatever. Come on, Connor.”

 _ **I hate you so much.**_ Connor doesn’t reply except with a forwarded notification of success.

....

Exactly 24 minutes after departure, Nine receives an alert.

**BACKUP NOW**

He jumps up and grabs a gun just as Lt. Anderson’s phone beeps with the same alert, along with several other phones in the bullpen. There’s an instant scramble for gear, and Nine struggles to be patient while the soft, easily damaged humans suit up in vests and grab their guns and badges.

 _ **Backup en route,**_ he sends finally, perched uneasily in the passenger seat of Lt. Anderson’s car as it barrels toward the scene. _**Status?**_

_Gavin was shot in the thigh, outside the bone, no permanent damage; I pulled him to safety and have applied pressure, but the gunfire is near constant and we are pinned behind the car. I register at least five guns of three types, semi-automatic, both large and small calibre. They are tearing apart the car; chances of a bullet piercing entirely through and hitting us increases with every second, 36% and rising._

“How long until we reach their location, Anderson?”

“Ten minutes; fifteen, tops.”

_**Can you hold out for ten minutes?** _

_Fifty percent and rising, Nine!_

“They don’t have ten minutes,” Nine snaps, grabbing the radio. “All units, this is RK900; is anyone close to Miller Street? Over.”

“Copy, Nine Hundred,” someone answers. “This is car 167; we’ve got visual. Officer down, I repeat, officer down. Over.”

“An ambulance is en route,” dispatch replies. “167, hold back; do not engage. Unit 315 is two blocks from your location; wait on them. Over.”

Nine growls as he slams the mic back in place.

 _ **Hold out, Connor,**_ he sends, unable to withhold his fear and anger. _**Two units are on you; Anderson and I will be there in five minutes.**_

_I’m hit; structural integrity of the car is compromised. Someone needs to distract them, now!_

“Damn it...” Nine grabs the radio again. “Unit 167, I am in direct contact with RK800, who is currently pinned down with Detective Gavin Reed on site. You need to engage now; they are tearing apart our officer’s cover. Repeat, engage now!”

“Copy; unit 315 just arrived. Engaging now.”

_**Connor??** _

For a pump-stopped second, there’s no response, and Nine immediately fears the worst.

 _We’re alive,_ Connor replies suddenly, triggering a release of coolant through Nine’s thirium lines in response to his relief. _We are trading fire; chances of Gavin being hit again are 0.3%, as long as he remains in cover, which is proving difficult._

_**Keep him safe; we will be there in two minutes.** _

Lt. Anderson hardly has a chance to stop the car before Nine jumps out and draws his gun, striding past the officers tucked behind whatever cover they can find. He analyses the front of the house and lines up his shots, taking out two gunmen by the time he reaches the shredded mess of metal that was Gavin’s car.

Connor is poised behind the engine, crouched low and firing somewhat haphazardly toward the building; his torso is riddled with holes, and thirium drips from his temple where a bullet just grazed his optical unit. Gavin is sitting against the rear tire, one leg stretched in front of him with Connor’s jacket tied around his thigh, and he has his gun out, but a quick glance shows he has yet to fire a single shot.

Two bullets rip through Nine’s shoulder, and he promptly fires back, gunning down the shooter and leaving two. One of them is taken out by Connor, and the other stops firing.

“Move in!” Lt. Anderson bellows, taking the lead himself, which prompts a pop-up of mild concern in Nine’s view, but Connor doesn’t react in the slightest, except to breathe a sigh of relief and ease himself to a standing position, so Nine dismisses the pop-up.

“What happened?” he demands, surveying and cataloguing Connor’s injuries, assessing the damage to his body and the disruption of his systems.

“The moment we stepped out of the car, those bastards shot at us,” Gavin answers for him, grimacing as he shifts to put his gun away. “So much for the missus being innocent... And I figured out what I was missing last night.” He waves toward the house with a muttered curse at the gunmen for having such terrible aim.

Paramedics tend to Gavin’s leg, and a CyberLife technician does a quick repair of Connor and Nine’s damaged parts, running cursory diagnostic checks to make sure all basic functions are running properly. Lt. Anderson takes charge of processing the scene and sends Gavin home with the promise that he’ll let the detective know what they find. Nine, being his partner, goes with him, and Connor stays, but only because Nine wirelessly agrees to set up a dual-viewing connection so that each of them can see what the other sees in a side module at the edge of their view.

Nine summons an automated cab and helps Gavin into the seat, programming his address into the terminal while Gavin presses his thumb to the bio-scanner to authorise payment for the trip.

“...I’m glad you’re alright, Detective,” Nine says when they’ve arrived and are waiting for the elevator. Gavin grunts and shifts his weight a little further to Nine in order to avoid hurting his injured leg while hobbling into the elevator.

 _He may be upset that he failed to notice the gunmen prior to being shot,_ Connor notes.

“Are you upset, Detective?” Nine asks, wondering himself.

“...A bit,” Gavin admits reluctantly. “Isn’t a cop out there that doesn’t get annoyed when they miss something.”

“No one is perfect,” Nine offers quietly.

_Except in the eyes of another._

_**How I wish I could say that.** _

_You can._

“...Except in the eyes of another,” he whispers, thirium heating in response to his embarrassment. The heat doubles when Gavin scoffs.

“That’s Connor’s line, absolutely,” he mutters, placing his hand on the bio-scanner and shoving open the door.

Startled, and registering Connor’s surprise as well, Nine can’t speak for a moment while he helps Gavin to the couch. He goes to lock the door and peeks into the kitchen to check on Calypso’s food and water before daring to return.

_He knows._

_**How very observant,**_ Nine sends back dryly. _**How? Did you tell him?**_

_Of course not._

“...How did you know?” Nine asks hesitantly, watching Gavin scowl at his pants when he realises he’s going to have to cut them off or else take off the bandage.

“What? About your little rivalry or whatever with Connor?” He scoffs a mild laugh. “You two could not be more obvious. I’m a detective; it’s my job to read people. You androids don’t have facial cues to go off of, but there’s plenty else to read. Like the poetry shit Connor keeps sending me.”

_He reads it??_

“You read that?” Nine asks at the same time.

“Duh. It’s entertaining. It’s even more entertaining to watch you two fight over me.”

“Why have you not said anything before now?” Nine questions, baffled. “Why now?” Gavin sobers, plucking absently at the edge of the bandage.

“I didn’t say anything because it really was entertaining. The highlight of my day. And as a bonus, I got all kinds of gifts and I didn’t have to do all the crap like reports and shit that I hate doing.” He gives Nine a wry half-grin and then drops his gaze to his hands, brows furrowed. “Then... Today, I... I watched you both get shot for me, and I just... It hit me that I... It hit me how real it all was. I know your bodies are replaceable, but one shot to the head, and... I realised I didn’t want to see that happen.”

He glances up, and Connor sends Nine a garbled noise that makes no sense, but that he completely understands; the emotion in Gavin’s eyes is far more than either of them has ever seen, and neither quite knows how to react.

_**Kiss him?** _

_Kiss him._

Nine steps closer, worried that Gavin will deny him. Will deny them both. But Gavin says nothing, does nothing. Nine sits slowly beside him, reaches for his hand. Gavin lays his hand open and curls his fingers between Nine’s as their palms slot together perfectly.

“Connor’s gonna be jealous,” Gavin says softly, gaze on their hands.

“He is with me,” Nine whispers, hardly daring to speak at all, reaching up to touch his LED. “We are sharing our sight.”

“Yeah?” A small smirk curls Gavin’s lips as he looks up, meeting Nine’s. “Can he feel what you can?”

_Give me access!_

“Yes,” Nine answers, complying.

“Good.” Without any other warning, Gavin leans in and moulds his mouth to Nine’s, tongue sliding between parted lips and exploring. Analyses pop up in Nine’s view, and it takes him several moments to recover enough to dismiss them. Connor send waves of joy and delight and excitement and want and...

Nine shudders under the last, breaking the kiss with a soft gasp.

“Okay?” Gavin rasps, breathing unevenly. Nine scans him without even considering it first.

Pleasure. Contentment. Enjoyment.

Arousal.

_Nine... Please. For me._

“Very much so,” Nine murmurs, answering Gavin’s question. “Connor... We’re feeding on each other’s emotions. It’s... a touch overwhelming. He wants...”

“Wants what?” Gavin prompts, reaching up to touch his fingertips to Nine’s jaw, drawing him closer again.

“You.”

“What do _you_ want?” he whispers against Nine’s lips.

“...You,” Nine breathes. Gavin smiles, but doesn’t kiss him again. He moves like he’s going to, but pulls away at the last moment and leans back instead, shifting carefully to lay back against the arm of the couch without letting go of Nine’s hand or hurting his leg.

“Better come get me then,” he taunts lightly, smirking at the android.

_GO._

Even without Connor’s desperate command, Nine moves, gingerly crawling over Gavin to straddle him and leaning down for another kiss; hotter, more demanding. Gavin chuckles suddenly, breaking the kiss, and Nine pulls back just enough to look at him.

“What?”

“Just thinking,” Gavin grins. “Looking forward to having you both in my bed.”

“Why, so you can watch us fight over you again?” Nine hums, sharing his amusement with Connor.

_**We may share him in the future, but the first time is mine.** _

_Only physically, brat._

“Of course,” Gavin scoffs. “Why else? Because I can’t possibly fathom the idea of getting pleasure out of both of you fucking me up.”

“Sarcasm may just earn you punishment instead,” Nine warned, cocking an amused brow.

“Bold of you to assume that’s not exactly what I want.”

_Oh my rA9, he’s a masochist..._

_**You are missing out, brother.** _

_I am excruciatingly aware._

“I’m going to enjoy keeping Connor at bay and having you all to myself this time,” Nine purrs, pressing his body to Gavin’s to stimulate him, but being cautious of his leg.

“Sure, have at it,” Gavin groans, rocking his hips. “But next time, Connor’s turn.”

“Alone?” Nine frowns, a notification appearing in his vision of _jealousy_.

“Obviously,” Gavin smirks. “Where’s the fun if I don’t encourage the rivalry?”


End file.
